Readings
In your Responsive Leadership in Social Services textbook, read the following:
Chapter 3, “Perception Is Everything,” pages 52–77.
Chapter 4, “Meaning Making: Practical Strategies for Understanding and Accessing the Employee Story,” pages 78–124.
Use the Capella University Library to read the following:
Oborn, E., Barrett, M., & Racko, G. (2013). Knowledge translation in healthcare: Incorporating theories of learning and knowledge from the management literature. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 27(4), 412–431.
Learning Components
This activity will help you achieve the following learning components:
Examine common factors and forces that can affect the functioning of human services organizations.
Identify common leadership challenges resulting from forces and factors affecting the human services environment.
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[u04a1] Unit 4 Assignment 1
Understanding the Landscape of For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Government-Based Human Service Organizations
There are a number of factors that impact or shape how programs function in their setting and how they deliver services. A good leader or manager understands that part of his or her job and role includes an ability to understand the landscape of the community served, including funding and policy changes. For this assignment, you will address key factors that impact decision-making and service delivery practices for your selected organization. Keep in mind that key factors may be external forces or internal issues, or some combination of these elements.
In this assignment, you will be demonstrating your organizational policy-writing skills through addressing the following course competencies:
Analyze the trends and competitive forces that influence community-based organizations.
Analyze how the skills of the leaders affect human services organizations.
Write the assignment as an analysis paper for a director, senior manager, or board of directors, depending on the governing practices of your selected organization.
In your analysis paper:
Describe the current political and social landscape for the organization you have selected for your course assignments.
Identify and discuss three to four important factors or forces that are impacting the organization.
Assess the leadership challenges that may exist as a result of the forces impacting the organization.
Recommend methods for addressing or improving the leader’s ability to respond to the forces impacting the organization.
Cite at least five empirical research articles or text sources that address leadership practices for managing challenges in a human services organization.
Use the template provided in the assignment resources to complete the assignment.
Assignment Requirements
Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Headings, resources, and citations should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting standards.
References: Your paper must include at least 5 empirical research articles or text references.
Length of paper: 4–6 typed, double-spaced pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Submit your paper in the Assignment area as a Word attachment.
Resources
Understanding the Landscape of For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Government-Based Human Service Organizations Scoring Guide.
How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles?.
APA Style and Format
Human Services Masters Research Guide.
Unit 4 Assignment Template
Name
u04a1 Understanding the Landscape in For-Profit, Nonprofit,
and Government-Based Human Service Organizations
HMSV5340 Leading in For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Government Organizations
Instructor
Date
Introduction
Write an introduction (3‒5 sentences) that defines the organization you will be discussing for this assignment.
Organizational Political and Social Landscape
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Describes the current political and social landscape for a human services organization. Provides a specific example of a political or social factor affecting an organization.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—summarize the content in your own words.
Forces that Impact Human Service Organization
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Discusses three or four important factors or forces that impact a selected human services organization. Describes specific effects of the factors or forces on the organization.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—summarize the content in your own words.
Leadership Challenges Related to Internal or External Forces
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Assesses leadership challenges that exist as a result of the forces impacting a human services organization. Analyzes the complexity of the challenges.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—summarize the content in your own words.
Improving Leadership Ability to Respond
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Recommends methods for addressing or improving a leader’s ability to respond to forces impacting a human services organization. Suggests some resources to support the methods that are recommended.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—summarize the content in your own words.
Summary/Conclusions
Summarize the forces and factors that impact your identified human service organization. Use supporting references.
References
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Cites at least five research articles or text sources that address leadership practices for managing challenges in a human services organization. Cites all articles using current APA standards. Writes in a manner consistent with the expectations of the human services profession. Uses APA style and formatting for all in-text citations and references.
(Sample of references from the course that might be used)
deGroot, S. (2016). Responsive leadership in social services: A practical approach for optimizing engagement and performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Oborn, E., Barrett, M., & Racko, G. (2013). Knowledge translation in healthcare: Incorporating theories of learning and knowledge in the management literature. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 27(4), 412–431.
Watson, L. D., & Hoefer, R. A. (2014). Developing nonprofit and human service leaders: Essential knowledge and skills. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
